For the cover of the October 6, 2025, issue, the cartoonist R. Kikuo Johnson portrayed one of the simple pleasures afforded to new parents besieged by the pressures of a relentless consumer culture: the joy of watching your child play. “A major concern that my wife and I shared while planning to start a family was that we might not have enough space in our small Brooklyn apartment,” Johnson said. “And that was before our daughter arrived, along with the gifts, the hand-me-downs, and all the essential ‘learning’ toys.”
